CONTENTS | AUTHOR BIO | SUBJECT CATEGORIES
Surprising revelations about the role of black Communists in a notorious case of bigotry and injustice
Black Communists Speak on Scottsboro
A Documentary History
edited by Walter T. Howard
"A unique blend of primary sources on the Scottsboro case. It is wonderful to see documents from the rich collection of CPUSA headquarter files finally making their way to readers! They provide a window into the day-to-day and year-by-year struggles waged by American (and international) Communists around the Scottsboro defense."
—Gerald Zahavi, Professor of History and Director, Documentary Studies Program, State University of New York at Albany
On March 25, 1931, Alabama police detained nine young African American men at a railroad stop not far from Scottsboro. In the process, they encountered two white women-who promptly accused the young men of raping them. Soon after, all-white juries found the nine youths guilty and eight of them were sentenced to death. Although many Americans were outraged by the injustices of the case, the loudest voices raised in protest were those of members of the American Communist Party.
Many white Communists spoke out, but black Communists took the lead in organizing public protests and legal responses. As this surprising book makes clear, they were acting at the direction of the Communist International (Comintern) which had directed them to address the "Negro problem." Now, with the opening of formerly inaccessible Communist party archives, this collection of primary documents reveals the little-known but major roles played by black Communists in the case of "the Scottsboro Boys."
Contents
Preface and Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. "They Shall Not Die!"
2. A Call to Millions
3. Harry Haywood Speaks
4. William Patterson Speaks
5. Monitoring the Case
6. Following Through
Epilogue
Profiles of Black Communists
Appendix
Selected Bibliography
Index
About the Author(s)
Walter T. Howard is Professor of American History at Bloomsburg University in northeastern Pennsylvania. He is the editor of B.D. Amis, African American Radical: A Short Anthology of His Writings and Speeches and the author of Lynchings: Extralegal Violence in Florida During the 1930s.